Last updated: 5 Jul 24 03:34:38 (UTC)
You, Inc. by Harry Beckwith
My Notes
he first thing you sell is yourself.
People “buy” optimists because they enjoy their company. Attitude sells.
People value - and pay more for - the way you make them feel. People buy “feelings”.
What is your specialty?
To truly thrive, learn what makes you uncomfortable.
Be grateful for your strengths, but work on your weaknesses. Your strengths will take you only as far as your weaknesses will allow.
Seek tough love.
People do not gather data to make a decision; they often gather it to justify their decision.
The first thing to plan for is your first impression.
Keep reading, keep listening, keep learning.
The future belongs to the communicators.
Simplify and clarify. Communicate so that you cannot be misunderstood.
Pros focus not just on words, but silence. A pause give the listener and chance to breathe. Watch your white space, silence talks.
Be careful in complimenting yourself.
Tell stories.
Put the audience, not you, in the story’s hero’s shoes.
Your key sentence in every presentation is your first.
Find your message, keep it simple, and repeat it often.
Revise every memo, then revise it again. Read it out loud and ask, “How can this be said more succinctly?” Brevity is power. Cut every document in half. Read everything you write aloud.
Listening makes you captivating. People speak too much and listen too little. We mistrust words, but we trust - and we praise - listeners. Listen - actively and often - always.
Before you speak, take one second.
We do not remember words well. We remember images.
Put your entire body into it.
A great presentation must be motivational. A poor teacher describes; a good teacher explains; an excellent teacher demonstrates; a great teacher inspires. Great presentations are not intellectual; they are spiritual. Don’t impress them; move them.
Look them in the eyes. Constantly.
In speaking, as in so many things in life, less is more.
Speak for 22 minutes. Keep it short. Don’t just make it brief. Make if a little briefer.
Let your jokes be on you.
Reach the head through the heart.
Honor each person’s craving to feel important. We want to feel loved, no matter how well we hide it. Make the person feel important.
Before you do anything else, make the other person comfortable. A relationship starts with comfort.
Reply quickly. Do everything fast.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Be a source. If your problem falls outside those areas, we will help you find the person for that issue.
Get on to common ground, and praise other not yourself.
Before you meet, and in the first seconds after you do, find common ground.
To establish common ground, mimic your listener’s pace.
If you’re not five minutes early, you’re five minutes late. Always, on time.
Above all, people choose the reliable. Be there.
Bot the “I’s”. Not everyone does.
Be predicable.
You tend to experience what you believe you will. Belief works.
Life is not what you make it. It is how you take it.
First rule: make yourself uncomfortable. Push - if it hurts, good!
Believe. Your clients will act as if they have no choice but to agree. Don’t be merely confident; be certain.
People aren’t rational. They choose the tiny over the huge; so sweat the tiny stuff.
There is no such thing as too grateful or too appreciative. Thank people unforgettably.
Never talk politics nor religion.
Keep every secret.
Admit a weakness.
Always be fair. The rewards come and the penalties are huge.
Praise often; flatter - never.
Beware of playing the role of the tough guy.
Prove yourself with your price.
Follow up within a day.